Welcome! Your pups are adorable. Saying he has a more slender body than a 'pit bull' could be a little off. As true American pit bull terriers are very slender dogs, typically 30-60 pounds. American bullies are thick built dogs, that can weigh upwards of a hundred pounds. American bully

American pit bull terrier.

Also, I would never let my dog be off leash in public or even in my yard if you dont have a fence. Seems like an accident waiting to happen. As for the allergies, have you tried going on a raw diet? That way you know what he's eating and the quality of it. Or even a home cooked diet, although that takes more time/work. And for crate training, have you tried having a 'special treat' only for when he's in the crate? A high value treat he loves? There are lots of helpful people on this forum so I'm sure someone here could help!

Welcome! Great Intro! Your boy his handsome Maybe I'm a lil partial to black dogs though

I too have an allergy dog (Curly, in my Avitar). It's been a long bumpy road finding what works, and I'm glad to hear you are doing what you can to help him. There are many threads in the Health section relating to this, so please go through there for ideas, questions, and anything you can contribute to help others.

As for the leash question regarding fetch... What I do with Curly, since she has a high prey drive, will dart, etc, is I got a 50 ft horse lunge line. It's plenty long enough to play with her on, especially with my girly throwing skills She doesn't mind it, or notice the leash really because she is so ball obsessed. I could probably very easily play fetch with her off leash due to her focus on the ball being so obsessive, but I'd rather not take the chance of her prey drive/ADD kicking in...beside, she's not good with some dogs now that she's gotten older. She's kind of dog selective.